Book Review:

Star Trek: Movie Memories

by William Shatner with Chris Kreski

Reviewed by Russ Lockwood


Published by Harper, 1994,
paperback, $6.99 ISBN 0-06-109329-7
450 pages

If you think Star Trek movies are all fun and games, you may rethink that after reading Star Trek: Movie Memories. That Star Trek movies were ever made seems a minor miracle -- and only the phenomenal success of Star Wars kept Paramount Studious on track, while the egos flared.

For example, during the script writing for the first movie, Gene Rodenberry and Harold Livingston resumed their battles:

    And while the specifics of their quarrels never much mattered (they generally blew up over plot points or unsolicited dialogue changes), the manner in which they played out always seemed to maintain a fairly consistent pattern. Basically, Roddenberry would have an idea for a script. Livingston would hate it, and leave it out of the next re-write. Roddenberry would then read Livingston's work and re-write the re-write, putting in whatever idea he;d originally espoused. Livingston would read this re-revision and blow a gasket. In fact even as we began shooting the film (ST:I)alternating script revisions began arriving on the set every couple of hours, with each one dutifully initialed by the author. Y'know, REVISED 12:30 pm GR might be followed by RE-REVISED 2:45 pm by HL and so on." (pg. 98-99)

Nevertheless, as history shows, multiple movies were made and Star Trek: Movie Memories is chock full of anecdotes and other trivia.

    "So knotted were the purse strings, that the USS Reliant (Star Trek II) didn't ever exist. Instead, prop guys merely re-arranged the furniture on the bridge of the Enterprise, making a couple of cosmetic changes, and started shooting" (pg. 170).

    "For example [in Star Trek IV], look closely at the scenes in which Chekov grills random passers-by as to how he might find the nearest "nuclear wessels," and you'll notice that he's most often soliciting that advice from real-live, unrehearsed, slightly shocked pedestrians." (pg. 263)

    "In short, [for Star Trek V] Harve and Daniel had revisited Lost Horizon, with Shangri-La now hiding beneath the cheesy pseudonym of Sha Ka Ree (a bastardization of "Sean Connery," who we all hoped would play Sybok)." (pg. 292)

    "Next in line (for Star Trek VI) came Jack Palance...almost. Meyer desperately wanted the one-armed pushup champ to play our Klingeon Chancellor Gorkon, but when Palance proved highly expensive as well as mildly ambivalent, the role was offered to David Warner." (pg. 375)

    "Kirk's dying words (Star Trek: Generations) read, "It was fun."...However, in creating the fictional death of Kirk, I was able to overcome my fears and die the way Shatner would like to die. What would the Captain see as he crossed the final threshold? I still don't know, but I realized I could sum up his attitude with the words, "Oh my," said with the same mix of emotions that I, at my best, might feel." (pgs. 441-2)

And these quotes, multiplied a thousand-fold, and augmented by over 100 photos, are the gist of this easy to read "How they made Star Trek movies," style book. Nothing more, nothing less. Simple, fast, and if it's a bit too cheerful, well, it's Star Trek.

Shatner, William: Star Trek: TV Memories

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